⁴ otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be put to shame—to say nothing of you—in this undertaking.^[a]

¹⁷ What I am saying in regard to this boastful undertaking, I am saying not with the Lord’s authority but as a fool;^(A)

² for I know your eagerness, which is the subject of my boasting about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them.^(A)

²⁴ Therefore openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you to them.^(A)

Encouragement to Be Generous

8 We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia, ² for during a severe ordeal of affliction their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. ³ For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means and even beyond their means, ⁴ begging us earnestly for the favor^[a] of partnering in this ministry to the saints,^{(A) 5} and not as we expected. Instead, they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us,

²⁶ for Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to share their resources with the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.^(A)